Page 341 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Because Faythe had fallen too the moment the Spirit’s body turned to black sand. Reylan caught her before she hit the ground, then the race against time began.

While Faythe had been giving everything she had into killing Dakodas, Livia had arrived before he was about to yell for help.

His cousin flew down on a Phoenix far smaller than Atherius, but Reylan was still incredulous as to how Livia had crossed the sea and made treaty with someone from Salenhaven to have come to their aid in this dark time.

“We need to get her to the Eternal Woods in Farrowhold—fast!” he yelled, letting Livia and Samara take Faythe from his arms.

Having to let her go and fly across in eagle form was the most soul-tearing thing he’d ever had to do. The distance felt endless even though he pushed himself harder than ever before.

Time mocked him, tormenting him that it had been too long since they’d left the fringe and landed in the fields before the woods.

Reylan didn’t waste a single second. Faythe was back in his arms within a few breaths of landing, and he raced through the trees, bursting into the waterfall clearing.

He hoped he was right—that the yucolites in this pool would give her back the life she needed. Reylan slipped into the pool fully clothed, then he lifted Faythe in with him. He stood while the water helped carry Faythe’s lifeless body.

Lifeless.

He had to shake his head to dispel the dizzying sweeps of panic.

“Please, please, please.” He kept chanting, with his eyes darting from her stunning, peaceful face to the glowing orbs that floated around them. “PLEASE,” he yelled desperately.

Gods, she looked so at peace, but he promised with everything he had that he would not let this world harm her anymore. If she just came back to him, he’d become whatever he needed to be to spare her from anymore pain.

Reylan brushed the tangles hair sticking to her face and rested his forehead to hers. “Faythe, my Phoenix, you can hear me. I know you can. After all we’ve been through, don’t you dare leave now.”

He kissed her cold lips and held her floating body, willing with every fiber of his being for life to be breathed back into her from this source of magick itself. She deserved this. Faythe Ashfyre deserved to see the world she’d saved. The world she would build now she’d rid the evil from it.

The yucolites gathered around her body, and with a jolt of relief, he watched as they attached themselves to her. They surrounded him too.

“Use me. Take whatever you need from me,” he begged them. His life, his soul, his heart—it was all hers anyway.

The tiny prickles of magick grew over his skin, and Reylan closed his eyes, welcoming their presence. All he could do was hold Faythe and wait. There were no Gods to pray to anymore.

Her chest was so quiet it made every passing second grow with a misery he would never forget. Reylan knew this would come; that despite all she’d given already, it would come down to a sacrifice for her rid the land of Dakodas. He couldn’t stop thinking of this place and the stories he’d heard of the yucolites. To restore life might be beyond what they were capable of, but theyowedher this. The world owed Faythe her life back for all she’d sacrificed long before now.

If she didn’t come back…Reylan feared what he would become in his grief.

Perhaps that was why Faythe had taken his memories before she died a long time ago. Not because he would follow her, but because she might have returned not to stop Marvellas but him, for the rage he would have poured into the world in his vengeance.

It made him no better than Marvellas, and for a moment, it was grim to acknowledge that there were no heroes or villains, only those who had reason to live and love, and those who had none at all.

The backs of his closed eyelids grew so bright he peeled them open to find Faythe glowing. She was so breathtaking. Ethereal. There were no yucolites in the lake anymore—they’d all absorbed into her.

Within, Reylan felt something snap, and he clutched her tighter with a horrified gasp.

Their bond.

“No…” he breathed. “You can’t have her.”

Maybe he’d been mistaken. Instead of bringing her here to save her…he’d brought her to her resting place, and they were taking what was left of her.

Absolute terror held him hostage. Frozen.

A sharp yank inside made him grit his teeth, and then…

He felt her.

He heard the gentle beat in her heart slowly growing stronger.

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